News Chief Justice Roberts suffers seizure

[Astronuc]

WASHINGTON - Chief Justice John Roberts suffered a seizure at his summer home in Maine on Monday, causing a fall that resulted in minor scrapes, Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.

. . .

Roberts, 52, was taken by ambulance to the medical center, where he underwent a "thorough neurological evaluation, which revealed no cause for concern," Arberg said in a statement.

Roberts had a similar episode in 1993, she said.

Doctors called Monday's incident "a benign idiopathic seizure," Arberg said. The White House described the January 1993 episode as an "isolated, idiosyncratic seizure."

. . .

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070730/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_roberts

Perhaps he has recovered - but that is nevertheless a bit unnerving. Yet, he had an episode before.

 

[McGyver]

USSC to Rule on Medical Products Liability in State Courts

Of interest to Judge Robert's medical condition and whether he may now begin taking anti-siezure medicine, is the USSC's review in late August of a landmark case (Reigel v. Medtronic) on medical products liability actions that would exempt manufacturers from liability in state courts for products that undergo the FDA's fairly rigid PMA filing process. Many brand name drugs today are approved albeit PMAs. About 90 percent of such cases are tried in state courts. But if affirmed as was by the lower courts, manufacturers would be exempted from state court liability, and such actions would have to be tried in the more costly (and Conservative) federal courts.

A ruling in favor of Medtronic essentially says that the USSC is "confident" of the FDA's PMA approval and oversight proceedings of drugs and devices. Oddly, a number of the drugs more recently that have come under fire for safety issues were PMA approved products. So - it will be interesting to see the prevailing comments from Conservative Judge Roberts.